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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Christmas Projects

We signed up for some Christmas projects this year. One was Operation Christmas Child, where Sandy & Abby each packed a shoe box full of things for a child in a third world country.

Their choices really showed their personalities, so I took some pictures: (Sandy’s choice is always on the left, Abby’s is always on the right.)

I was really pleased that the experience ended up being such a positive one for my girls. We talked about it for about a week and they got excited about filling a box for their “little girl.” Then we made one trip to Walmart. I explained we were only buying things for their little girls, nothing for them. We started by picking up a shoe box-sized container for each of them. Then we went to various places and I let them each pick what would go in their box.

After we got home, I added some candy, small toys, and hygiene items (soap, shampoo) to the box and closed them up. It was a really good opportunity to talk with the girls about how blessed we are to have all the things we do and many people aren’t as lucky.

The girls went with me to drop off the boxes, I wish I’d taken a picture.

The other thing we signed up for was a mini-Holiday swap through Worldwide Culture Swap. We were matched with a family in England and we were supposed to send them a box with 3 to 5 things representing the winter holidays in Utah.

It was fun to talk with the girls about what they thought we should include and I learned a few things myself.

We sent a snow globe containing a skiier, salt water taffy, raspberry jello salad (with a recipe), chocolate-covered cinnamon bears, a Christmas CD from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with David Archuleta, Stephen’s Candycane Cocoa, and some postcards.

The taffy and chocolate covered cinnamon bears were made at a factory in West Valley City and the Stephen’s Cocoa is made in Farmington. I didn’t realize these things were made in our community – and, as I talked about with a neighbor, I learned that Stephen’s hot cocoa actually started in our neighborhood.

I hope they do this culture swap next year, I’d definitely participate again!